A 60-year-old man accused of raping a young girl several
times on the grounds of a local nudist colony is back in
court Thursday. Kenneth Gates of Colerain Township is
charged with five counts of rape and could face 50 years in
prison if convicted. Police said the rapes happened months ago at the Paradise
Gardens Nudist Colony on Blue Rock Road.

[Paradise Gardens is an affiliated camp of the American
Association of Nude Recreation (AANR was the American Sunbathing
Association.)

Instead, that was the day she found out her husband, Kenneth, was a child molester who sexually abused a pre-teen girl, often at a Colerain Township nudist colony.

That shocking revelation caused her to start divorce proceedings against the 61-year-old grandfather and culminated Tuesday with Kenneth Gates being sent to prison.

Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Norbert Nadel imposed the minimum sentence possible against Gates, a surprise coming from a conservative judge who often takes criminals to task when they come before him.

Nadel did, though, take the opportunity to question why the young girl was allowed in a nudist colony.

"What in the world is all this nonsense about? Why are you taking a (child) to a nudist colony?" Nadel asked.

"She was just about raised there. It's very family oriented," Linda Gates said of Paradise Gardens on Blue Rock Road.

The victim's mother agreed with the judge about perceived impropriety of taking a child to a nudist colony, but she reminded the judge that the crime was committed by a person, not a lifestyle.

"I did not feel (the nudist colony) was very family oriented (but) I do not blame that place," she told the judge. "What he did was wrong."

After Gates was charged, the nudist colony terminated Gates' membership.

Gates also abused the girl at his home, Linda Gates said Tuesday.

Initially, Gates was indicted on five counts of rape, charges carrying a maximum prison sentence of 50 years.

In a June 2 plea deal designed to prevent the child victim from having to testify, the rape charges were lowered to sexual battery -- charges carrying a maximum prison sentence of 25 years -- and Gates pleaded guilty to all five counts. He was sentenced to one year.

Gates earlier confessed to his guilt in a taped statement to police, but that didn't stop Gates' daughter-in-law, Gina Waller, from questioning the conviction, a move that angered the judge.

"He's pleaded guilty," Nadel reminded Waller. "He's admitted it. He said he did it, so don't you stand up there and say he didn't do it."

The judge could have sent Gates to prison on the reduced charges for as much as 25 years, but instead imposed the minimum prison sentence allowed.

Publication Date: 08-04-2004

[Linda Gates was living with a child molester who was assaulting her own child. She probably thought her family was family oriented. She, like many other nudists who defend the camps, clubs, organizations and "lifestyle" are not equipped to or capable of making any such judgment. --Nikki Craft, August 5, 2004]